Jaguar Land Rover will be debuting a series of exciting new models at this year’s annual celebration of all things automotive at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Goodwood Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard officially opened as new Land Rover Defender prototype is first vehicle up the iconic Hillclimb

Camouflaged model makes its public dynamic debut driven by the Duke of Richmond to kick off this year’s event

Continuing the most demanding test regime of any pre-production Land Rover to date, a camouflaged prototype Defender, which is in the final stages of its global engineering development programme, will tackle the course each day of the festival and is sure to wow crowds as they look to get a glimpse of the modern-day version of Land Rover’s most enduring model.

Despite wearing a camouflage pattern to hide its shape, the recognisable Defender silhouette was clear for all to see as it accelerated up the Hill.

Few vehicles in the world can claim to be an icon, but that’s the only way to describe the Land Rover Defender. It’s extremely close to my heart and a vehicle that I’ve had a close connection with over the decades, so to be able to open this year’s Festival of Speed by driving it up the Hill was a real privilege

The Duke of Richmond

Industry legend and Land Rover Chief Engineer, Mike Cross, is the man responsible for the driving characteristics of the new Defender and will be putting the new 4x4 through its paces across the weekend in the First Glance category.

The new Defender will redefine breadth of capability for the 21st Century, combining unrivalled off-road ability with assured and engaging on-road dynamics. I am really excited to be putting it to the test on the Hill

Mike Cross

Land Rover Chief Engineer

The new Defender has just returned from field testing in Kenya with wildlife conservation charity Tusk, to highlight the decline in lion populations in Africa as part of its Year of the Lion initiative. A replica vehicle is on display at the Jaguar Land Rover stand throughout the Goodwood Festival of Speed